Ellie McDonald

As Global Engagement and Advocacy Lead, Ellie leads on the delivery of projects and advocacy and engagement activities with the aim of shaping the global digital policy landscape so that it is more open, inclusive and transparent, and leads to policy outcomes that are human rights respecting.

Ellie leads on global advocacy engagement by feeding into the development of policy positions, research and monitoring, coordinating with civil society partners, and contributing to the development and implementation of global advocacy strategies on GPD’s policy areas. She also oversees the management of several of GPD’s projects focusing on global advocacy and engagement.

Ellie is an experienced advocacy professional, with particular expertise in the rights to equality and non-discrimination, and freedom of expression and information. In previous roles at the Equal Rights Trust and ARTICLE 19, she has contributed to or led the development and delivery of global policy and advocacy initiatives. At the Equal Rights Trust, this included stewarding an initiative on algorithmic discrimination, involving wide-ranging research and multi-stakeholder engagement, and the further development and dissemination of the organisation’s policy on the application of equality law and approaches to the functioning and oversight of AI and algorithmic systems.

Ellie has also previously held policy and public affairs roles at the Children’s Society and Send My Friend to School (Global Campaign for Education UK), coordinating effective joint advocacy to the UK Government and Parliament. She has an MA in Human Rights from the School of Advanced Study, where she was awarded the Albie Sachs prize for best dissertation and the Coffin Fund for Promising Students Studentship, and an BA in History from University College London. Ellie speaks English and conversational French.